Skolian Empire - Skyfall Part 10

"Good G.o.ds, Eldri. Why?"

"He wants to be Bard in Dalvador." Eldri wrapped his arms around his body. "He might have killed my father. We don't know."

She spoke gently, remembering his kindness when she had told him about her first husband. "I'm sorry your father died."

"All my family did." He sounded subdued now. "It was on this mountain during an avalanche. Possibly it was an accident. Such things happen here."

"Possibly?"

"Many rumors claim Avaril caused it. He is my cousin, the son of my father's brother." Eldri stamped his feet in the snow. "If everyone in my family dies, he becomes Bard."

It sounded all too familiar. The long histories of the Skolian n.o.ble Houses included their share of t.i.tles gained through a.s.sa.s.sination. If that was what had happened here, though, it hadn't succeeded. "But you survived."

"I was only a few months old, so they left me at Windward when they went riding. Garlin had to stay home and take care of me because he had misbehaved. He was sixteen." Eldri was trying to sound unconcerned, but his bewildered pain was obvious. "The avalanche killed everyone, my parents, sisters, brothers, uncles, aunts, cousins...Garlin is my family now."

"Ai, Eldri. I am so sorry." Roca threaded her arm through his. Although she suspected Garlin had taken advantage of the situation over the years, it seemed unlikely he had helped cause the tragedy. From what she understood, t.i.tles here went through the male line, unlike in many Skolian cultures where it went through the female line. As a son of Eldri's aunt on his mother's side, Garlin wasn't in the line of succession. If anything happened to Eldri, Garlin would lose the power he wielded now as the Bard's chief adviser.

"Someday I will have a big family again," Eldri said. Ice glittered on his eyelashes and he could barely get out the words.

Roca moved closer to him. "You are so cold."

"Aren't you?"

She grimaced. "Very."

"You look warm." He was obviously trying to achieve the same state, without success.

"Will you be able to sit out this storm?"

He had a strange look, as if she had cornered him. "I don't think so. I don't understand. Why does it not bother you?"

Roca's foreboding was growing. At first she had thought the people here were physically better able to resist the cold, but now she realized they were just more used to it. Up to a point, she didn't handle it as well as they did. But the nanomeds in her body monitored her physiology, and right now they were working overtime to keep her temperature at survival level. She felt the cold bitterly, and she would be ravenous after a while, but she could live for hours, maybe even days, as long as she had shelter.

The same might not be true for Eldri.

"Can we reach Windward from here?" she asked.

"I don't think so." He crossed his arms and hunched his shoulders. "You were right about the path being unsafe."

"I have an idea." She hesitated, uncertain how he would react. "It has to do with the way we share our emotions."

"What?" His laugh was shaky. "That is crazy."

Why did he deny it so vehemently? His panic sparked like fire whenever she suggested he might be different. "I know you feel it."

He wouldn't look at her.

"Eldri, listen. The traits are hereditary. If you and Garlin are cousins, he may have some of it, too."

He still wouldn't meet her gaze. She focused on his mind, gently, a visitor asking permission to enter.

Although he didn't sense her on a conscious level, he didn't instinctively retreat either. She gathered impressions from him, enough to know he and Garlin had always been close, much more than she would have guessed from their strained relations these past two days. They did share their moods, though it frustrated Eldri that Garlin seemed less attuned to him than the reverse.

"Try to reach him," Roca urged. "Let him know we are here. I can boost your signal."

"Boost my signal?"

"Make your call to him stronger."

His look turned doubtful. "That sounds very strange."

Roca dug her hands in her pockets and scrunched her shoulders against the cold. "It is better than doing nothing at all."

He grimaced. "Garlin will be angry when he finds us."

"I've no doubt about that." More quietly, she said, "I'm sorry I caused this trouble."

"Roca, no, you caused no trouble. You only accepted my ill-timed invitation to come here." He pulled her closer, as much for warmth as for affection. "Very well. Let us try this idea of yours."

She closed her eyes, leaning into him, her arms around his waist, with only the faintly keening wind for company. His mood suffused hers, but she sensed nothing.

Just as she was beginning to think they would fail, she felt a stirring of his mind. He reached out on instinct, with no training, no idea how to proceed. But he did reach out and Roca helped him, using her skill to direct and augment his undefined call. Whether or not he made contact, she couldn't tell; she had trouble sensing Garlin clearly even when he was nearby. His animosity toward her swamped his other emotions. She had no idea if he would recognize their cry for help.

Sometime later Eldri's hold loosened. Roca opened her eyes to see his pale face. Snow encrusted his eyebrows.

"I am so very cold," he whispered. Then his eyes glazed over and his face went blank.

"Eldri?" Roca shook his arm. "What is wrong?"

No response.

"Eldri!"

He stood unmoving, his mind diffuse. Mentally, she suddenly felt odd, as if she stood on the edges of a storm. She had the curious sensation that static had muddled their connection.

Suddenly he focused on her. "Roca...?"

She took his hand. "What happened?"

"Happened?" He sounded lost.

"You blanked out." His mental static was gone now.

"No...nothing wrong." He looked around. "I need to sit."

"It would be better if we kept moving."

Eldri didn't seem to hear her. He went to a wall and slid down to sit in the snow. Roca bit her lip, knowing he would get cold faster that way. But he looked as if he would pa.s.s out on his feet. She was becoming more and more alarmed, afraid Garlin wouldn't arrive in time, if at all.

With misgiving, she settled on the ground next to him, in the snow, with drifts on either side. He put his arms around her and they squeezed as close together as possible.

Then they waited.

7.

Mind Demons.

"Eldri, no." Roca grasped his arm as he walked back to the wall. Over the past few hours, she had needed to prod him to his feet more times than she could count. "You must keep moving."

He spoke leadenly. "I need sleep."

"We cannot." She dragged at him when he tried to sit down. "Keep walking."

He swayed on his feet, his face drawn. Then he wearily took her arm and stumbled away from the wall, plowing through a drift of snow, making blue powder cascade off his knee-boots.

Together, they began another trek around the cottage. He said nothing, just plodded, his eyes downcast and glazed. Roca didn't believe she would ever feel warm again.

And night was coming.

A shout came from outside.

Roca stiffened. "Did you hear?"

Eldri kept plodding.

Another shout.

"Listen!" She shook his arm. "I heard someone."

He stopped, his eyes focusing. "Yes. I think so."

They started toward the broken wall, where snow was sifting in from the storm. Before they made it halfway, a figure shoved past its broken edge, someone taller than most Lyshrioli men, long and lanky in his heavy clothes and hooded jacket.

"Garlin!" Eldri jerked forward, then stumbled and nearly lost his balance.

Roca caught his arm, giddy with relief. He snagged her around the waist, grinning now, and limped toward Garlin, pulling her along. More people were pus.h.i.+ng through the break in the wall, crowding into the cottage.

Garlin grabbed Eldri and pulled him into a bear hug, drawing him away from Roca. As the cousins embraced, she stood to the side. Relief overflowed Garlin's mind-and anger. He didn't even look at her.

The other people in the rescue party kept glancing in her direction. She recognized many of them from dinner last night. From their minds, she gathered that she and Eldri were in better shape than anyone had expected. No one seemed hostile; in fact, they wanted to rejoice with her. But they took their lead from Garlin.

The cousins finally separated, laughing and talking at the same time. The rescue party gathered around, their voices rising like a swell of music. Someone handed Eldri a ceramic jug. When he uncovered it, puffs of blue condensation rose into his face. He drank with steam wreathing his cheeks, and Roca watched from outside the circle, s.h.i.+vering, her hands scrunched in her pockets.

Suddenly he lowered the jug and looked over the heads of the people around him. Catching sight of Roca, he motioned her over. As everyone turned, she came forward, self-conscious, aware of their guarded responses to her.

When she reached Eldri, he hugged her against his side with undisguised enthusiasm. "They can take us back!" His voice had regained some strength. "They tied ropes together so we have a line all the way to Windward. So much rope! They used every coil, sheet, and line in Windward. We can follow it through the snow."

She managed a nod, too cold to do more. He pushed the jug in her hand and fragrant steam rose into her face. As much as it relieved her that they would soon be warm at Windward, it also meant she would end up no closer to the port than she had been this morning.

The supply s.h.i.+p would arrive in less than a day.

The hall where they had dined last night looked much different today, empty, with only a fire roaring in the hearth, no people. Garlin had sent away everyone except Roca and Eldri. Woolly bolts of cloth were strewn across the table, along with half-done tapestries and gla.s.swood cups.

Garlin strode along the table, whipping off the long scarf he wore around his neck and tossing it onto a high-backed chair. Watching him, Roca and Eldri stopped at the end of the table. Eldri pulled his blanket around his shoulders tighter and took another sip from his mulled wine. Roca set her blanket on the end of the table. She wasn't so cold now; the soup they had given her had helped replenish the energy used up by her nanomeds, which were working full-time to keep her warm.

Eldri started toward Garlin, his gait stiff from their bout with the storm. He stopped abruptly when Garlin spun around and glowered at him. Then Garlin stalked back down the length of the table to him. He spoke in their language, his words astoundingly beautiful despite his anger. Eldri listened with a patience that astounded Roca. He answered when Garlin demanded a response and otherwise stood quietly. She had the sense it wasn't the first time this scene had played out.

After several moments of this, Garlin walked in a measured gait to Roca. His icy gaze could have frozen her far more than had the storm. He spoke in English. "Did you enjoy your game?"

"I play no game," she said tightly. She hadn't liked the way he had spoken to Eldri and she had no intention of accepting such treatment from him.

"You don't call it a game?" His voice had an edge like a knife. "You have done nothing but display yourself since the moment you saw Eldrinson. So cold, so perfect-" His gaze traveled down her body and back to her face. "Soblatant.Well, you got what you wanted. Now I suggest you leave him alone, before you do more damage."

"Garlin, wait." Eldri came over to them.

Roca met Garlin's gaze steadily. "It threatens you much that he care for another person?" In her anger, she was losing her command of English. "You cannot control him forever. He is adult now, not child."

"Roca, don't." Eldri tried to step between them, but Garlin pushed him aside.

"Haughty words," Garlin spat at her. "For one so young."

Her voice chilled. "I suggest you worry about your own maturity. Or lack of it. I have son your age."

He jerked his hand in dismissal. "You offworlders lie so easily. Did it mean nothing to you that you could kill Eldri by tempting him to cavort around the mountain in this weather? Did you ever once think of him instead of yourself?"

Roca gave him a regal stare. "Did you ever once think I might have good reasons for my actions?"

He made no attempt to hide his incredulity. "For three years I have dealt with you people, you 'planners'

and 'marketers.' For three years I have listened to you talk about our lives and lands as if they were nothing but goods for your use."

Eldri inserted himself between them. "She isn't in that group. She comes from another one."

Garlin glared at him. "You trust them too easily."

Roca bit back her response. Exhausted from their ordeal and shaky from the cold, she knew if she stayed longer, she might say things she would regret. Taking a deep breath, she turned and walked to the stairs. But they were only a few meters away, which wasn't enough to let her anger subside. The first few steps led to a landing; then the stairs turned at a right angle and ran up the wall to a second landing.

"Wait," Eldri said as she climbed the first steps.